Muisca Confederation

Muisca Confederation
Muysc Muyquyguamox (Chibcha)
c. 800[1]–1540
Flag of Muisca Confederation
Flag of the Muisca Confederation
Location of the Muisca Confederation circa 1500; Zipa, Zaque, and Independent territory labelled
Location of the Muisca Confederation circa 1500; Zipa, Zaque, and Independent territory labelled
CapitalBacatá (Bogotá), Hunza, and Suamox, Tundama
(800–1540)
Common languagesMuysccubun
Religion
Muisca religion
Zaque and zipa 
• ~1450–1470
zaque Hunzahúa
zipa Meicuchuca
• 1470–1490
zaque Saguamanchica
zipa Michuá
• 1490–1537

1490–1514
zaque Quemuenchatocha
zipa Nemequene
• 1514–1537
zipa Tisquesusa
• 1537–1540
1537–1539
zaque Aquiminzaque
zipa Sagipa
Historical eraPre-Columbian
• Established
c. 800[1]
March 1537
• Conquest of Funza (Bacatá)
20 April 1537
• Conquest of Hunza
20 August 1537
• Destruction of the Sun Temple
September 1537
• Foundation of Bogotá
Battle of Tocarema
6 August 1538
20 August 1538
• Foundation of Tunja
Death of Tundama
6 August 1539
December 1539
1540
Area
153746,972 km2 (18,136 sq mi)
Population
• Early 16th century[2]
2 million
• Density
42.58/km2 (110.3/sq mi)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Herrera Period
New Kingdom of Granada
Today part ofColombia
Cundinamarca
Boyacá
Santander

The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (zaques, zipas, iraca, and tundama) in the central Andean highlands of what is today Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The area, presently called Altiplano Cundiboyacense, comprised the current departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and minor parts of Santander.

According to some Muisca scholars the Muisca Confederation was one of the best-organized confederations of tribes on the South American continent.[3] Modern anthropologists, such as Jorge Gamboa Mendoza, attribute the present-day knowledge about the confederation and its organization more to a reflection by Spanish chroniclers who predominantly wrote about it a century or more after the Muisca were conquered and proposed the idea of a loose collection of different people with slightly different languages and backgrounds.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference UniNacional was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Juan Friede (1966). Invasión del país de los chibchas. Santa Fe de Bogotá: Ediciones Tercer Mundo, pp. 19, in Spanish
  3. ^ (in Spanish) Muisca culture – Historia Universal – accessed 21-04-2016
  4. ^ Gamboa Mendoza, 2016